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The Mississippi Kite

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The Mississippi Kite THE MISSISSIPPI KITE Vol. 9 (2) December 1979 THE MISSISSIPPI KITE 27 A Periodical Published by the Mississippi Ornithological Society to Record and Further the Study of Mississippi Birdlife. Vol. 9, No. 2 December 1979 Contents FOOD OF NESTLING LITTLE BLUE HERONS IN AN UPLAND MISSISSIPPI HERONRY 28 David F. Werschkul RHYTHMIC FEEDING PATTERNS AMONG HOUSE SPARROWS James N. Sappington 31 A NEST RECORD FOR THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH IN MISSISSIPPI 35 Randall C. Warren and George A. Hurst A CASE OF MISIDENTIFICATION AND COMMENTS ON THE VALUE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS Jerome A. Jackson 36 AN UNUSUAL INSTANCE OF MORTALITY IN THE BARN SWALLOW Ren Lohoefener 38 FIRST RECORD OF THE BRIDLED TERN IN MISSISSIPPI Martha B. Hays 39 BRIDLED TERN: FIRST OBSERVATION OF A LIVE BIRD IN MISSISSIPPI 40 Larry Gates and Terrie Fairley BLUE-FACED BOOBY NEAR HORN ISLAND, MISSISSIPPI 42 C. Dwight Cooley, Jerome A. Jackson, and Donald K. Cavin BIRDS AROUND THE STATE: JUNE AND JULY 1979 43 Compiled by Jerome A. Jackson REVIEWS 46 Front Cover: A Clapper Rail at its nest at the Dupont Plant near Delisle, Mississippi, 15 May 1978. Photo by Jerome A. Jackson. 28 THE MISSISSIPPI KITE Food of tiestling Little Blue Herons J..rl an Upland Missi~ Heronry David F. Werschkul Department of Biological Sciences Mississippi State University 1 Mis~issippi State, Mississippi 39762 I studied the reproductive biology and ecology of the Little Blue Heron (Florida caerulea) in a heronry located near Brooksville, Missis­ sippi (33 0 lO'N 87 0 45'W). For information on heronry structure, history, and species composition see Werschku1 (1977a). During the 1977 breeding season I collected and analyzed regurgitated food pellets from nestling birds. The caloric content was measured as follows: (1) samples by separating food pellets into identifiable components; (2) dry weight by desiccating at 103 0 C for 72 h; (3) ash free dry weight (AFDW) by com­ bustion at 550 0 C for 6 h; and (4) energy content by combustion in a Paar Adiabiatic Bomb Calorimeter Model 1214T~. All analyses were done in triplicate. Accuracy was such that the variation among triplicates for net energy content was within 1.5% of the mean. Herein I report my findings. I collected 30 pellets by walking through the heronry and picking up pellets regurgitated by juveniles. Juveniles between the ages of 11 and 25 days readily regurgitate when alarmed. Of the 30 pellets 13 were not appreciably digested, were intact, and probably represented the entire last feeding. These 13 intact food pellets averaged 14.33 g (50=3.57). I observed juveniles to be fed about 5 times per day between the ages of 11 and 21 days so their average intake would ge 71.65 g. The net caloric content of this food was 101.26 Kjoules g- AFDW. The diet of nestling Little Blue Herons consisted primarily of fish, crayfish, and amphibians (Table 1). Fish, primarily Lepomis spp., were the most common prey item in both quantity and volume. Amphibians were the least common. Amphibians were, however, the food source with the highest caloric value (106.69 Kjoules g-l AFDW) followed by fish (101.25 Kjou1es g-l AFDW), and crayfish (99.58 Kjoules g-l AFDW). Preyavail­ ability and abundance must override caloric content in shaping the search image of Little Blue Herons. Jenni (1969) found, by volume, the diet of Little Blue Herons in north Florida to be 54% amphibian, 33% fish, and 12% invertebrate. Mean1ey (1955), although he did not report food by volume, also found amphibians to be the most common large prey. Amphibians were in 26% of the pellets he examined. They were followed in frequency by crayfish, found in 24% of the pellets, and fish, found in 14% of the pellets. The lesser· frequency of amphibians from nestlings at Brooksville is puzzling 1present address: 306 Wharf, Rural Delivery, Brookings, OR 97415. Table 1. Food of nestling Little Blue Herons. Phyla Class Species # items (%) Volume (%) Length ± 1 SD in ml (cm) Chordata Amphibia Rana catesbeiana 2 (2) 19 (6) 6.3 ± 1.8 Rana sp. 6 (5) 14 (4) 4.3 ± 0.8 <: Amphibia subtotals 8 (7) 33 (10) 0 Teleostomi Gambusia affinis 9 (7) 12 (4) 4.1 ± 0.6 <.D --- N Esox americanus 3 (3) 8 (2) 11.0 ± 1.8 0 CD (") Fundulus notti 3 (3) 4 (1) 4.8 ± 0.3 :;CD r:r CD Elassoma zona tum 6 (5) 3 (1) 2.3 ± 1.4 , <.D Amia calva (1) 5 (2) 9.5 'J ----- <.D Lepomis spp.* 59 (49) 154 (47) 4.3 ± 1.4 unidentified 2 (2) 4 (1) Teleostomi subtotals 83 (69) 190 (58) Arthropoda Crustacea Pomifelis sp. 3 (3) 2 (1) 3.5 ± 0.5 unidentified crayfish** 27 (22) 102 (31) 7.6 ± 1.8 Crustacea subtotals 30 (25) 104 (32) N * includes L. macrochi rus , ~ cyanellus, ~ marginatus; ** includes Procambaras, Cambaras. <.D ----------------------------------- 30 THE MISSISSIPPI KITE since the habitat of the 3 studies is similar. The solution is probably prey availability. During 1977 little rain fell in the Brooksville area during the nesting season (Werschkul 1977b) and amphibian populations, many dependent on temporary pools for breeding, were low (R. Altig pers. comm.). I thank Drs. R. Altig and G. Clemmer for help in identification of prey items. The study was supported in part by funds from the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund of the American Museum of Natural History and the Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid Program. Dr. Jerome Jackson provided helpful comments on an early draft of this manuscript. Literature Clted Jenni, D.A. 1969. A study of the ecology of four species of herons during the breeding season at Lake Alice Alachua County, Florida. Ecol. Monogr. 39:245-270. Meanley, B. 1955. A nesting study of the Little Blue Heron in eastern Arkansas. Wilson Bull. 67:84-99. Werschkul, D.F. 1977a. Present status of the Cliftonville heronry. Mississippi Kite 7:36-39. 1977b. Interactions between Cattle Egrets, Bubulcus ibis, and ----Little Blue Herons, Florida caerulea, during the breeding season. Ph.D. Thesis, MissisSlippi State Uni\lersity. Vol. 9(2), December 1979 31 Rhythmic Feeding Patterns Among House Sparrows James N. Sappington Department of Biology William Carey College Hattiesburg, Mississippi Most species of birds adopt diurnal or nocturnal rhythmic patterns of behavior that are synchronized with the 24-hour solar day. Feeding rhythms have been studied in species of birds ranging from American Wi geons (Ma reca ameri cana) (Leck 1971) to House Sparrows (Passer domesticu~mmers-Smith 1963). In a 4-year study of House Sparrow breeding activities at Mississippi State University, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, from 1972 through 1975, I observed temporal rhythmic feeding patterns of House Sparrows under natural conditions in 4 different nesting areas. During the winter months of 1972 and 1973 I studied the extent of feeding activity in adult House Sparrows. A more detailed study of the feeding of nestlings was made from 1972 through 1975. A total of 254 nests was studied. My observations included 145 days on which continuous observations were made from 05:00 to 19:00 and 32 days on which I ob­ served nests for shorter intervals. Because of the placement of nests I was able to observe from 1 to 7 nests at one time. The number of visits to the nest with food was used as a measure of feeding activity. Royama (1966) stated that feeding frequencies are far too variable to be used as a true index of food consumption per nestling, but according to Pettingill (1970), no matter how food is supplied, the individual nestlings receive approximately equal amounts during the course of a day due to automatic apportionment. Records were kept of the number of food visits for each hour of the day for each nest. Statistical analyses were performed on the UNIVAC 1106 computer at Mississippi State University. Basic statistics were obtained from these data by the first option of UNIVAR (1973 version), a basic statistics program written by D.M. Power. The second option of UNIVAR was used to rank the means in descending order by Gabriel's sum of squares simultane­ ous test procedures (SS-STP). I Llsed a probabil i ty 1eve 1 of 0.05 as the criterion for significance in all statistical analyses. The hourly rate of nestling feeding followed a similar pattern for each year and for each of the colonies. Three peak feeding periods occurred daily, late morning, mid afternoon, and late afternoon (Fig. 1). Feeding was minimal between 05:00 and 06:00 and between 18:00 and 19:00. Although the diurnal variation in feeding followed a rhythmic pattern, analysis showed significant differences among the hours of activity. Where these differences occurred is revealed by the 5S-STP analysis 32 THE MISSISSIPPI KITE (Tab1e 1). I found a mean feeding rate of 16.5 times per hour with a mean of 3.55 young per nest (Sappington 1977). Kendeigh (1952) reported a mean rate of 20 times per hour for nestling House Sparrows with 4 in the nest. Comparison of our data sets indicates that they do not differ significantly (x2 = 0.334). TABLE 1. Comparison of mean total number of hourly visits to nests made by House Sparrows feeding nestlings. Time (CST)* Number of Cases Mean SS-STP 1400-1500 293 27.1 1000-1100 297 27.0 1700-1800 298 24.4 0600-0700 295 19.9 0900-1000 298 19.7 1100-1200 296 18.7 0700-0800 296 18.6 1300-1400 299 17.8 1500-1600 295 17.6 1600-1700 297 17.5 1200-1300 294 17.4 0800-0900 294 16.9 0500-0600 300 6.3 1800-1900 205 6.3 Hour intervals are arranged in descending order of magnitude of the mean frequency at which nest1ings were fed.
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